54 replies to this topic

[mattknepley]

Not rubbing the cool water; standing in it and letting the water continually flow over.

[Casper]

Posting...

[Matt DeLaVega]

Seems that nettle is worse during drought. I suspect when it is stressed it bumps up its defense. Glad it only lasts a short time, that pain would be hard to deal with any longer.

[MtFallsTodd]

In my neck of the woods jewelweed grows in the same place as nettles. A hand full of leaves mashed up to get the juices flowing will provide relief from the burn.

[elting44]

In my neck of the woods jewelweed grows in the same place as nettles. A hand full of leaves mashed up to get the juices flowing will provide relief from the burn.

With my luck it'd wind up being a handful of poison ivy 😨

[Casper]

Jewelweed is correct.  When mashed up the leaves develop into a waxy, aloe salve.  The 2 plants often grow in close proximity to one another and should never be confused with "Leaves 3, Let it be".

Jewelweed has pretty and architecturally interesting orange flowers.  They develop into tiny, narrow seed pods that explode upon touch.  Put on your tiny safety glasses.

 

I would have needed a big handful of mashed leaves to find relief that day.  I was near panic.

 

Onto the next day of adventure when most NANFans had left for home...

[Casper]

Day 9 Big Indian Creek

 

Tuesday morning the convention was over for most everyone but Host Bob, his buddy Matt Ormsby the MDC Naturalist ( who spoke at the convention ), Michael, Isaac, Cyan and myself wanted another day in the water and so choose a different site on Big(?) Indian Creek.  It was a fine, blue sky day and 3 of us immediately immersed in the water while Bob and Matt worked their seine downstream.  Just above the bridge was a cobbled, cascading run that hosted a small mound of active Bleeders.  Michael and i worked it for a good while...

 

 

 

Hot spawners still.

 

 

 

Michael's knobby knee bones shadowed beyond the active mound.

 

 

 

The mound was cobbled against one of the larger stones in the cascading run.  As the day warmed the mound became less active, Ozarks included.  Longears were seemingly feeding on any exposed eggs.  

 

 

 

Michael headed upstream while i was content to work the run.  As i pivoted and peered back upstream i saw a large odd shape coming fast towards me in the shallow run.  I had the camera handy and snapped this image just as they passed.  The appearance of them racing towards me is burned in my brain, very inspiring as they rode the shallow current.  I never tire of encountering these prehistoric beasts.

 

 

 

Bob and Matt had returned from their downstream seining and all of us enjoyed a bit of fellowship at the Under the Bridge Lunch Box Diner.  They had kept a few of their seine catchings and shared them with us, show and tell style.  Matt had a sweet cooler setup for transporting them to their office.

 

 

 

Meramec Saddled Darter, a primo male.

 

 

 

The Seine and Snorkel Team.  Cyan, our photographer, had been content to sit under the bridge and draw while we were dipping, pulling, wading and / or breathing through plastic tubes.

 

 

 

The Swallows were most active during the morning but quieted as the day progressed.  The surrounding white rings are depleted Dobsonfly egg cases.

 

 

 

Bob and Matt needed to return to their homes, Isaac was debating his options with a hot cat status but Michael and i were still a go so we headed downstream, making quite an adventure of it, walking the wide vast gravel beds skipping to the next pools.  We stopped at many sites deep enough to snorkel and found lots of activity including many guarded Chub mounds, several disturbed by the seiner's recent activity.  It had been a good year for the Nocomis.  A slider encountered, this one missing a foot.

 

 

 

About a mile or so we came across this getaway huntin' & fishin' cabin.  We left a note on the antlered door and are planning the next Missouri Gathering accordingly, lodging on the Indian Creek, the big one.

 

 

Working back upstream we came across several nice sun saucers.  As the days warm the more the Sunfish seem to shine and spawn.

 

 

 

Handsome fella.

 

 

 

Mr. Hog, obviously hoping i don't see him.

 

 

 

Black Spotted TM.  They were along the quiet banks, the rocks below covered with a lush, green moss.  A big snapper turtle was there too but he lodged himself deep in the riprap.  I tried to gently pull him out but could not get any decent photos, only one of his warty hiney.

 

 

Getting back to our vehicle we stopped by our first site of eviction and snapped the faded purple for evidence against us.

 

 

 

Here is another unfriendly sign at a nearby crossroads...

Obviously i was breaking the law with this documentation.

 

 

 

A nicer sign of the fine hospitality granted to near all of the 2018 NANFA attendees.

At our CCC Cabin only Michael, Cyan and i remained.  Lucas has stopped by but missed a fine dinner of our many dining options including shrimp, sausage, corn and taters left over from the Gravel Bar Boil.  Doing so we cleaned out the refrigerator to our satisfaction.

 

 

The adventure continues...

[Isaac Szabo]

Great photos and storytelling as always, Casper. It's nice to be reminded of those fun adventures and see some of the things I missed.

[Casper]

Day 10   St. Louis   June 14 2017

 

Nothing too fishy today, having let Cyan decide how to spend our Wednesday.  With Nick and family's motivating suggestion we arrived at the St. Louis Zoo first thing in the morning.  We enjoyed nearly the full day there and i highly recommend a visit.

In the late afternoon we enjoyed ribs and pulled pork sliders at Pappy's Smokehouse.  A fella was working the line and urged me to order the ribs.  I replied "Ribs were chancy" so he brought me a sample.  Mighty fine Memphis style so i altered my order.  Turns out it was "Pappy" himself and he ended up sitting with us and treating Cyan and i to extra drinks and dessert.  Pappy, aka Mike, and i were both born in Memphis and enjoyed memories of the city, Mike told of his BBQ beginnings and i how snorkeling clear water had brought me to MO.  Turns out he has a vacation home overlooking a swim-able spring run in North Arkansas.

After the fine BBQ and as the sun was setting we arrived at the graceful, elegant Gateway Arch to the West.  Enjoying several various vantage viewings we eventually descended into the underground museum, watched a neat film about the construction, which was completed in my youth during1965.  We wandered the expansive gift shop picking out gifts for home.  Upon coming back outside it was dark, lightning in the far west, providing a bonus view of the impressive Arch.

 

 

Our CCC cabin.  It was the oldest constructed in the park, but not the most attractive.  It provided a very comfortable dwelling for the 4 of us.

 

 

 

Buffalo and Gar near the boating disaster.

 

 

 

Missouri Longears in the open Zoo tanks.

 

 

 

Both Morels and a Devil Dog in one diorama.  One living and the others paint.

 

 

 

Petrified Bowfin.

 

 

 

Brass Snapper.

 

 

 

Sandstone Softshell.

 

 

 

The graceful Arch.

 

 

 

Twilight.

 

 

 

Into the night sky, electrical storm rising.

 

From St. Louis we drove south to a cheap motel near potential snorkel sites for the following day.

 

 

 

[mattknepley]

Quite possibly the happiest lookin' snapper I've ever seen...

[Casper]

Day 11   Coldwater   June 15 2017

 

Awaking in Fredrickson and after another attempted visit to the Cobalt Mines i retraced several highways and back roads to a gravel bar site i had camped at for 3 days after the first MO convention and later returned to during a MOAR wander several years ago.  I made a 45 minute DVD of that trip.

 

 

 

I was looking forward to treating Cyan to a lunch of Dogs n Sudsy root beer, a Chicago childhood memory of mine, but this Cherokee Pass location had closed since my last visit.

 

 

 

The countryside is quite beautiful along this stretch of the St. Francis River.

 

 

 

The river itself was uninviting, in an agricultured murky condition.  The banks were littered with big mussel shells from a recent flood event.  While camping here years ago i had boiled a big mussel as a campcooktest.  It had the texture of a rubber shoe and tasted about the same i would suspect.  Dicing and a handful of herbs may make a difference if one ever wants to give it a survivalist culinary try.

Leaving the river Cyan and i backtracked to the highway, parked and walked under the overpass to the creek, she drawing and myself snorkeling several stretches of Coldwater Creek.

 

 

 

The columns were covered in hatched husks of flying critters.

 

 

 

Lots of fish beneath them Shiners, Darters and Chubs, but i was eager to find active mounds.

 

 

 

I hand caught this docile frog after he hopped into the cool water.

 

 

 

I walked upstream using a dried overflow run to the old highway crossing where concrete remnants remained.  I entered an adjacent pool.

 

 

 

More Bleeders over an old Chub Mound, already silted.  I could find no Chub nearby.

 

 

 

Walking back downstream all the mounds encountered appeared inactive.  After looking at a dozen or so, Cyan and i loaded up and headed south to various bridges using the MO Gazeer as a guide.  At a small creek crossing i found a green field with cooling shade, parked and descended down and into the cool, clear creek flowing beneath the bridge.  Very beautiful and i quickly eyed a fresh clean Chub mound to my pleasure.  The two hours developed into an eventful site full of sunlit activity.

 

 

 

The Chub yawns.  One mound and one male and female for this entire stretch leaving them content to spawn alone.  Though not active the male observed my every approach to his mound offering fleeting broadside views.  If i added or moved a stone he would inspect my actions, becoming ever bolder with his monitoring.

 

 

 

Beyond the bridge in the shallow gravel flats were Sunfish guarding their nests.  This particular Longear allowed several close shots.

 

 

 

The proud Male.

 

 

 

A Green Meanie lurking in the shadows.

 

 

 

Resting Hoggie beneath the bridge.

 

 

 

Blackspotted Topminnow cruising the shallow backwater eddies.

 

After a couple hours i climbed out and was enjoying the last of Pappy's smoked ribs when a jeep passed, backed up and pulled in beside me.  I don't understand why i encountered so many agitated property owners on this trip but even with me standing there smiling, in dripping wet snorkel gear, eating a BBQ rib, my daughter happily reading in the shade, on a beautiful sunny day, no purple marks nor signs of denial posted, the local Jeepster made it known, in no uncertain terms, we were not welcome.

However in my favor i had already reached satisfaction for the day.  Cyan and i leisurely continued wandering South, arriving in Sikeston and enjoyed a dinner a Lambert's "Home of the Throwed Rolls", found a motel and visited the local theater for a Mummy movie.

 

 

 

The next morning we soon found ourselves at the juncture of the Ohio and Mighty Mississippi Rivers.  The park has seen better days but it still offers pleasant views and picnicing.  Hoards of Gar were spotted in a nearby backwater area.

 

 

 

Homeward bound we crossed into a new state and soon passed a fish market.  I turned around and purchased fresh Buffalo, Gar along with an oddity, Fishdogs, made right there on site.  They are still in the freezer, perhaps awaiting grilling at the next cement pond pool party.

 

Another full day of driving brought us home, to our own beds and wife and Mother Connie.

 

12 days of Missouri adventures with my daughter Cyan along and bracketing NANFA's excellent 2017 Missouri convention.

 

 

 

[olaf]

Been hoping this yarn would get tied up. Thanks. But next time you need to get snorkeling with the hoards of gar at the end. 

[Chasmodes]

I enjoyed the entire report, from start to finish, rehashing what I read before along with your new posts.  Well done, as usual, Casper.  Thanks for sharing again!

[Casper]

Thanks Olaf and Charles.

It was a wonderful opportunity and i'm forever grateful to Bob Hrabik for hosting such a great convention... his 2nd NANFA MO convention.

 

The Gar pool was very murky and the banks mushy.  I observed from afar but here is a photo.  Unsure if the rez will show them but there were an estimated hundred about 1' long, you can see some short Gar "sticks" close to the bank.  I can see a few along with the turtle and dead fish.

 

From here it was homeward bound wearing dry clean clothes.

 

Attached Images

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[olaf]

Cool! I always want to find small gar like that, but I never have. Lots of large ones, but the young-of-the-year always elude me.